Down Hall Hotel, Spa & Estate

KW Oxfordshire

excellent hotel the food was the highlight. good ambiance and a very relaxing place. very good value

Bad restaurant experience

I booked a one night stay for my wife's birthday. The hotel itself is very nice and the grounds are beautiful. We checked in early and room was ready . I phoned down to reception for the champagne which had been explained it may not be in room as we were early but that was fine - it was brought up to the room in 10 minutes. We had a prestige room which was lovely. My wife said she wouldn't have any treatments this time. The only disappointing part of the stay was the evening meal. We booked for 7.30 - order was taken and the wine brought to table - we didn't fancy anything from the starter but were asked if we would like some olives - I said yes - they never arrived. My wife ordered the rib eye steak and I ordered steak and ale pie from bar menu for main. We saw other people coming in and out of restaurant - it wasn't busy and only about 20 people in there as it was a Wednesday - they all had their food. We finally had ours brought to the table at 8.40 - We started eating it - wife's was luke warm - can only imagine it had been sitting on the side. My pie was hot but vegetables cold. My wife called manageress and it was sent back - she asked for mine to be sent back as well so we could eat at the said time (it wasn't offered). It arrived back after about 10 minutes - still cold. We didn't end up ordering dessert as just wanted to leave restaurant. My wife noticed 10% discrectionary service charge would be added which we would normally pay but because of the bad experience we informed manageress we wouldn't pay. As we left the restaurant we relayed our thoughts and the wine price was waived and we were also brought out a 'Happy Birthday small dessert plate' which we took through to the bar area and finished our wine. All hotel staff are friendly and hotel well maintained and should imagine it is a lovely venue for wedding . All in all a beautiful hotel spoilt by the bad restaurant experience.

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My wife and I booked a "feature" room for two nights just to get away for a bit of a break. We had fairly modest expectations - it's a big hotel which appears focused on weddings and corporate events so we were aware that it wouldn't necessarily be as personal as other smaller hotels, but we liked the look of it and my wife fancied a couple of treatments in the Spa.

All in al, we had a great time and were well looked after but the theme for us was one of a very near miss throughout our stay. Everything was sooo nearly perfect but just managed to miss the mark - EXCEPT, I hasten to add, the room and the food in the restaurant, both of which were absolutely perfect! The room (102) was spacious, clean, relaxing, beautifully decorated and furnished, with a big comfortable bed, good shower room. My only comment would be the lack of a proper coffee machine which I would expect in a room like this - there was a kettle and sachets of coffee but not the real thing.

And the food in the restaurant - cor blimey, as they say. It was sublime, utterly delicious, a proper treat on both nights that we ate there. Impossible to fault. My wife is vegetarian and she was impressed that the options available were different to the usual sort of fare as well. We loved it and would potentially go back to this hotel simply for the room and the food.

But then comes the but - it's not a big but, but it is a but. As I mentioned earlier, there were too many near misses that left us just fractionally disappointed. On arrival, there was only one person on the check in desk, for example, and the customer ahead of us was struggling with their reservation, meaning we had to wait a good ten minutes before being attended to. We had afternoon tea on day two - Halloween was the day before but the Halloween decorations were still up in the room which was not what we were after. Why not spend ten minutes taking them down? And the room in which tea was served was very musty smelling, they had tried to cover it up with air fresheners but there is clearly a bit of a damp problem! Tea, however, was EXCELLENT and we loved it, but like I said, it's the little things that matter!

We had breakfast in bed on day too as well - such a treat, but it arrived missing various elements (like butter and jam for the croissants, for example?!) and when we called room service to rectify the problem, they brought butter, jam and another round of pancakes which we hadn't ordered. Not complaining, just odd...!

The list of minor issues goes on but you get the idea. We loved our stay, please don't get me wrong, and we would probably go back but I feel the hotel just needs to tighten up a bit on the fine detail. The staff were, on the whole, great and did their very best (a few more smiles wouldn't go amiss) and the set up as a whole is wonderful - hugely impressive, if just a fraction frayed around the edges.

Would I recommend it to family and friends - yes, I would, but I would be sure to book a "feature" room and if you are expecting perfection then this won't be quite right for you. A very near miss, but a rather wonderful one!